I hit the CT River valley today in advance of the snow and to follow up on a report from Ken Klapper of a flock of 1,000 snow buntings in Walpole.  In addition to the snow buntings (careful count revealed 994 but I think the flock split by the time I made this count so could be significantly higher), I had a good smattering of scarce winter holdouts followed by a good count of sawbills at Lake Wantastiquet (numbers usually rise in January, by which time all remaining water away from the major river channel is frozen).

627 of 994 snow buntings

994 snow buntings, Boggy Meadows Farm, River Rd. Walpole

Barely visible in the above shot, but a shot backlit against the sky allows for an accurate count.

Counted using photoshop. Minimum of 994 birds as flock may have split prior to this shot.

Also seen:

Sawyer Farm, Walpole

Horned Lark – heard at Boggy Meadows Farm

Carolina Wren – 1

Song Sparrow – 3

Savannah Sparrow – 1

Hinsdale

Barrows Goldeneye – 1 drake

Common Goldeneye – 150

Hooded Merganser – 100

Common Merganser – 90

Black Duck – 20

Belted Kingfisher – 1

Winter Wren – 1